No. 269 Spielen / Play

There are many different facets to play. It can take the form of a self-initiated and (apparently) aimless activity or that of a serious competitive contest. For children, it is essential to the development of cognitive and motor skills, as well as of social competencies, but it remains something we engage in even as grown-ups. Games of skill, board games, and computer games are part of everyday adult life, as are the playing of music, sport, and theatrical roles, while educators and healthcare pro- fessionalsbothemploy“gamification”,thatistheintegra- tion, with the aid of designers, of game-like elements into non-game environments. What’s more, design itself has developed methods that borrow from the eld of play – be it free play or play with set rules. form 269 marks the beginning of our 60th anniversary year, a milestone we will, of course, be celebrating in fitting style. Our rst issue for 2017 thus delves into the magazine’s past, but also runs the rule over “Reset Modernity”, a new book edited by Bruno Latour, while our next Carte Blanche introduces the work of Italian food design studio Arabeschi di Latte. form 269 will be published on 13 December 2016.